VF LIBRIS discussion

Thank you for the invitation. I am new to this group. I have several books, mostly paranormal in nature, but also write erotic humor and educational as well. I'm kind of a mixed bag.
Great to see that you are from Croatia. I myself am half Croatian.

Great to meet you :) Love that you are part Croatian :) I looked at your books, and they look interesting. But first I will copy/paste you story I always send to new authors, about our publishing project. If you like to work with us please write on vf.libris@gmail,com

Few words about me and our publishing project:
I'm writer and translator, I've been doing this job for 20 years. My name is in 60 books. My husband is professional graphic designer, he done most of my books, also doing this for 20 years. In Croatia it's hard to live from book business only – authors are underpaid, translators are underpaid, but for years we still worked for many publishing houses, only because we love the job. We are doing this because we love books, everything about books for us is magical.
2 years ago my husband and I decided: we know almost everything there is to know about publishing, printing, translating, writing… everything book related. Why wouldn't we start our own business? Since then we published 13 book - so fare one picture book,

So, we dig some more info and find out about micro-publishing. That is publishing on the small scale, when one or 2 people are doing all the work, publishing small number of books, only to cover expenses of printing, designing, translating, bookselling agent and so on, and publishing only that quantity of books they know they can sell. In Croatia that's only 150 pcs per title (we are really small market) – and that can cover the mentioned costs only if 1 or 2 persons can do the job of 5 people or more. So, we are now underpaying ourselves :) That's why we publish only public domain books and we cannot pay for publishing rights for modern authors – there is no room for that expenses.

There are so many good authors who only needs the chance for someone to “discover him/her”. Also, there is so many authors, so many books out there – it’s hard to see the tree through the forest. So we decided to ask – it’s always good to ask. If authors would like to work with us, and help us, we will help them.

We hope business will change in 5 years’ time. For now, we are selling our books only to libraries who are financed by the State – all of it are only hardcover books, designed only for libraries, so more durable and more expensive editions. In few years, when we got job take off, we hope to expand business on paper-book editions. Crisis destroyed most of small publishing houses – people in Croatia stop buying books, cost of living was too high and books become luxury. But we still love to read, and we can borrow books from libraries for free. So, this is why we – micro publishers – focus on libraries. Libraries buy books, people borrow books, authors with books in libraries have good exposure - that's free marketing for all authors, as yourself, who have lots of books published. 20 years ago, when I was unknown author, people who borrowed my books from libraries started my carrier as writer. When my publisher heard that libraries have waiting lists for my book (my first book of many), because to many people are asking about it, I got a new book deal, no questions asked. And the new one. And the new one… And people who borrowed my books from libraries told other people, and other people – sick of waiting for it in libraries – bought my books in bookshops, and that’s how this all thing started. So – that’s why libraries.

In the future, if the market „heals itself”, we will start publishing paper books, so people can buy books in bookstores, but for now situation is like it is – libraries only.

To sum it: we cannot pay authors, but we can open you to new market which knows nothing about you. Most of people (young people) here read English, and if someone come across your book in library and like it he/she will for sure look for more of your work. I know I do that. And we make easy for readers because we like to put all info in authors bio, so people can find your books more easily. So, this is kind of free marketing for you, and for us is building our business with great authors. We already have few we are really proud of:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dougie_...

http://elliemidwood.com/

http://www.notapipepublishing.com/ (all of books published by their house)

and so on.
So if you like to join our team please write to us.

Thank you for the invitation!

I still feel so brand new to all of this. I've written a couple of books, multi-genre, but dabbling in sci-fi, adventure, fantasy, and horror. I am a member of the Confederacy of the Quill. You might want to take a look at our library at...

https://confederacyofthequill.com/site/